00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers.
00:06 And it's a real pleasure this afternoon to speak to Joanna McGregor about Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra.
00:12 And you are just embarking on what's been described as your most ambitious season yet.
00:17 But the point is, you've come back so incredibly strongly under your tenure after the pandemic.
00:22 You're saying the first thing that happened after all the horrors of the lockdowns and so on, you troubled your audience.
00:29 Yes, we have. And it's been great. And we've had a great roaring comeback with the orchestra and with audiences coming.
00:37 We have a big old venue to fill the dome and they've been wonderful, you know, huge audiences.
00:42 And the orchestra, orchestral players have said to me how thrilled they are to look back and see so many.
00:47 But the received wisdom is that poor orchestras have suffered more than anyone during the pandemic.
00:52 And yet there you are, you trouble your audience. How did you do that then?
00:58 We now have a very strong social media campaign. We really looked into the marketing.
01:03 We spent a lot of time on the brochure and our new website's about to launch as well.
01:08 We really took care of the imagery associated with the orchestra and the messaging that comes out so we could reach, you know, a large number.
01:17 We've got a wonderful family of friends and patrons who are wonderfully loyal and supportive.
01:23 It's all about being 21st century savvy then, is it?
01:26 Well, they were coming to me saying Joanna, what we really, really want to see are lots of younger people coming in and watching the Brighton Philharmonic.
01:33 You know, we've loved this orchestra for 40, 50, even 60 years.
01:37 We've supported this, but we really want to see younger people come in.
01:41 And we pulled all the stops out in every way, including the programming, you know, to really do big, colourful, splashy, contemporary,
01:50 but also classical programmes that really speak to a Brighton audience.
01:56 But it's not just a renewal of the audiences, is it? You have renewed the players, a very natural evolution in the time that you've been there, haven't you?
02:03 Yes, there were a few seats I had to fill. We didn't have a leader when I arrived.
02:08 The leader had retired and the co-leader. So, of course, I looked around and I brought in the wonderful Ruth Rogers,
02:14 who's just sensational success, and her co-leader is Nikki Sweeney.
02:18 They both play in other orchestras. I mean, Ruth is the leader of the London Mozart Players and Nikki is the leader of the Irish Chamber Orchestra,
02:25 one of the top orchestras in Ireland. And she lives in Hove, by the way.
02:29 And so we had a few seats like that to fill.
02:34 And also I gathered all the players up and said, we're going to do very, very big programmes.
02:40 How about we go all out to bring in younger players?
02:44 We've got a lot of seats to fill and they all said this is fantastic. We all want to pass on what we know as older players, to mentor young players.
02:53 So you've got a lovely mix of the old hands, the new faces. But key to your approach has been being bold, hasn't it?
03:00 You're saying there's no danger in being bold. It's what's required.
03:04 I think it is what's required, actually. I think for any institution of any kind to flourish, anything, any arts institution,
03:12 you have to be creative. Do you think arts institutions can be a bit conservative, a bit cautious then?
03:19 I don't think they want to be at all. I think it's a concerted effort on the part of board, trustees, supporters and players,
03:29 say if it's an orchestra, to everybody wanting to move forward in the same way and to be creative.
03:34 I would call it more than bold so that you're... But what does bold/creative mean for an orchestra?
03:41 It means the programming. So, for example, this season we're putting together a very lovely creative programme,
03:49 so Sibelius' Second Symphony, which is an absolute repertoire, wonderful, loved piece, known by classical core audience goers,
03:58 but we're putting it together with Arvo Pärt, who's a terrific contemporary composer, who has got a whole other audience.
04:05 He's got a huge significant presence on the ECM label and that kind of thing. I think it's that type of thing.
04:12 We're doing a huge Wagner programme in January, and rather than put it with, I don't know, normally you'd put it with Richard Strauss perhaps,
04:20 or maybe you'd do something light like Haydn in the first half. I said to the players and the conductor,
04:26 how about we do something contemporary? I was very careful about what I programmed because it's playable, rehearsable.
04:33 So we're doing the wonderful Berio folk songs with a marvellous young singer who was singing in Glyndebourne a couple of years ago.
04:39 That kind of thing. I mean, that's what I call creative programming. It's sort of fresh.
04:44 And it is Brighton a good place to be bold or creative, or both.
04:49 Yes, I think it is. It's a young, youthful city. It's full of students.
04:53 It's full of artists who live here who are engaged in other arts like visual arts and film.
04:59 It's full of people who are culturally very aware, but not necessarily focused on classical music.
05:06 They're just very aware of the arts in general and they're really energised by any institution that wants to give them something that's very vibrant and very meaningful, I think.
05:18 So your audiences enjoy being pushed, your musicians enjoy being pushed. It's a great combination, isn't it?
05:24 I don't think anybody's being pushed. I think they're just enjoying themselves.
05:32 I mean, I have to tell you that as a performer, it's much more frightening to play a Mozart concerto than it is, I don't know, what would be an example, than a Shostakovich concerto, for example, which might come across as wildly virtuosic, very loud and very energetic.
05:49 But actually, as a performer, I would be much more nervous about Mozart. I'm very exposed playing Mozart.
05:55 So I think sometimes you can deliver the most colourful and energetic programmes and fun is being had by everybody.
06:04 Fantastic. Well, it looks a brilliant season ahead. Congratulations on what you've done so far and what you've put together for us.
06:10 Really lovely to speak to you again. Thank you, Joanna.
06:13 That's great. Thanks a lot. Bye bye.
06:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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